Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], October 12 (ANI): A pioneering nanotechnology-based water purification system designed to clean polluted rivers and reduce industrial waste was unveiled on Sunday during the inauguration of India’s first Semiconductor Innovation Museum, T-Chip SIM, in Hyderabad.
Developed by researchers at the University of Hyderabad, the innovative system aims to help restore the city’s historic Musi River by converting wastewater into reusable, clean water.
Speaking to ANI at the sidelines of the launch, Professor Swati Ghosh Acharya from the University of Hyderabad explained that her team has been developing advanced nanomaterials to combat industrial and urban water pollution. “We have been developing these nanomaterials specifically for dealing with toxic heavy metal ions, high levels of TDS, BOD, and COD, which are released from different industries and also from urban communities,” she said.
Professor Acharya highlighted that the newly developed AI-integrated nanotechnology filter can serve as a powerful tertiary treatment system for sewage and industrial water. “We have developed a new nanotechnology-based, powerful filter, which is extremely important for existing STPs as a tertiary polisher because most of the untreated waste—around 50 per cent—is going into the Musi River. We want to stop that, and this technology will really help,” she explained.
The project, developed in collaboration with UK-based researcher Kaviva Gawaza, integrates artificial intelligence and satellite imaging to detect and monitor pollution sources. “We start from satellite imaging to identify the locations where the river is getting polluted, then correlate that with real-time monitoring at ground level of different toxic metal ions, turbidity, nitrates, phosphates, and grey water contaminants,” Acharya said.
One of the most notable breakthroughs, according to Acharya, is the system’s ability to significantly reduce reverse osmosis (RO) waste. “Normally, 40 to 50 per cent of water is rejected by RO systems because that rejected water has very high TDS. But when passed through this technology, we can reduce the TDS value to less than 10, making it reusable,” she explained.
The circular water treatment model, she added, not only recycles wastewater but also cuts energy use and eliminates plastic waste. “It reduces the energy cost, water footprint, and carbon footprint of the process, and it doesn’t use plastic membranes, unlike the current technology. This prevents the large amount of plastic waste generated by water treatment companies,” Acharya noted.
Emphasizing the project’s broader mission, she said the primary goal is to revive Hyderabad’s Musi River, which has been severely polluted by untreated waste. “The Musi has been a lifeline of Hyderabad, but because of waste dumping and untreated discharge, it has turned into almost a drain. We want to revive it through this technology by partnering with companies so they can treat their waste and reuse their water,” she said. (ANI)
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